Setting his Sights
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: AU. Short drabble series of moments between Harry and Tom's meeting and parting. Harry/Tom. Slash. Mentioned character death. Challenge fic.
1. First Sight

**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Challenge – Battered**

**_Chapter One:_********First Sight**

The first time he had ever laid eyes on Harry was when he had visited muggle London at the age of nine. It had been one of the few outings the Orphanage had actually managed to take them on and most of the children had received money to spend on something that caught their eye. Even rarer still, the Matron could not find a big enough fault in him to not allow him to go on the excursion.

He hadn't received any money of course, the Matron and staff at the Orphanage were 'punishing' him for something or the other yet again or better yet they would 'claim' to have forgotten him or not been able to see him at the time of them handing out the money. He hadn't even paid attention to the excuse they had given him. They would not have given him any money either way.

It wasn't the first time this had happened nor was it likely to be the last.

Tom didn't _really_ mind not receiving money from them. He had doubted that he would find something he liked any way and even if he did he highly doubted the money would be enough.

He had seen the black haired, green eyed boy as he dashed down one of the alleys. He had looked battered and was sporting what looked like a painful bruise on his cheek. Tom could even notice the slight limp as he ran past indicating that the boy was more injured than he looked.

There were five very bulky looking boys running after him. Their movements were clumsy and heavy as they bumped into everything in their path gaining very annoyed looks.

Their eyes locked for a short moment.

The moment passed and Harry had looked back towards the boys that were chasing him with a wry grin on his face.

Tom's eyes widened as he saw a piece of cloth blow into what looked like the leader's face causing him to lose concentration and stop moving. The boys behind him slammed into the leader of their gang and ended up in a heap at the entrance of the alley while a cart tumbled over them, with the owner of the cart running after it.

Tom would have believed that it was all pure chance that had saved the other boy but there was no wind to have blown that cloth and the road was dead straight so there was no way that cart could have rolled by accident.

Of course, the satisfied grin that the other boy sported before he had disappeared into the shadows had also been a dead giveaway.


	2. Second Sight

**_Disclaimer: _****I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Challenge: Ridiculous**

**_Chapter Two:_**** Second Sight**

The second time he had seen the other boy had been in Hogwarts.

They were waiting not so quietly in the room just off the Entrance Hall to get sorted along with the rest of their year mates, people who they would be communicating or seeing almost every day for the next seven years of Hogwarts education.

Tom had looked around the room to gauge his new fellow classmates. There were a group of well dressed eleven year olds that were talking calmly to one side of the room and there was another group of nervous girls and boys that were talking quickly to each other. The rest of them were standing around silently or talking quietly in groups of twos or threes.

Tom noticed Harry talking to a boy and girl. Tom only had a profile view but had felt the brush of recognition in his mind once his eyes had settled on the other boy. He had never seen him in London after that one time but had suspected that he would find the other boy in Hogwarts ever since he had received his Hogwarts letter.

Tom watched as Harry's eyes swept over the room and right over him a couple of times not giving any indication that he had recognized Tom at all.

It truly was ridiculous how annoyed that made him feel. He had never wanted the attention of other people before and he had always worked for the attention he had managed to garner in the school the Orphanage had sent them to. This feeling of wanting the green-eyed boy's attention solely, for no real reason that his mind could think of was ridiculous.

Nothing worked that way and Tom _knew_ that from experience. That did not stop him from wanting his attention though.

The Professor returned and told them to form one line.

The well dressed children went to the front of the line with sneers on their faces that looked almost like their natural facial expressions by now while everyone else simply got into the line however they got there, not really caring about who they stood between.

Tom was three people behind Harry. He hadn't managed to get any closer than that.

They were absolutely silent as they were led into the Great Hall for their Sorting, most of them wondering about the sorting they would be taking part in that would determine their place in Hogwarts, or confirm it for some who still believed this was all a dream.


	3. Leaving His Mark

**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Challenge: Torn**

**_Chapter 3:_**** Leaving his Mark**

He had been torn when Harry had been sorted into Slytherin with him.

He had not known if he should talk to the other boy or ignore him as Harry had been doing to him during the entire Sorting. He had been contemplating the benefits of either option throughout the entire feast.

He noticed that Harry was just as silent as he was. Harry looked deep in thought and only murmured a few words whenever he was spoken to. The other Slytherins left Harry alone for the most part, as they did with him.

His hand had been forced though when they entered the Common Room and had been faced with the hostility of the purebloods in their house.

"Look at this, you two must be the luckiest mudbloods in the entire school to be Sorted into the Noble House of Salazar Slytherin," a boy that looked to be around Sixth Year mocked them as soon as they walked in.

Tom's hands clenched. He did not truly understand what "mudblood" meant but he could tell that it was something unpleasant by the way the older boy had said it and the slight curl of his lip. Tom calmed down slightly when he noticed that Harry hadn't reacted to the taunt. The other boy barely looked like he had been paying attention to the other boy at all as he stood between the door and the bookshelf.

The sixth year snarled and grabbed Harry's collar to get Harry to face him and pay attention to him. Tom tensed slightly, not knowing what exactly he would be able to do to the sixth year to help but wanting to try nonetheless if something happened.

"Look at me when I'm talking to you mudblood!" The boys grey eyes were furious as Harry's gaze finally landed on him.

"Don't touch me," Harry said softly. Tom was startled by the dangerous quality his voice carried.

"Oh, I'm so scared. What you gonna do mudblood?" the boy mocked, still not letting go of Harry's robes.

Tom saw Harry's eyes narrow slightly.

The bookshelf next to them fell over as if by some freak accident, completely missing Harry as it landed straight onto the sixth year boy, knocking him out cold.

The Common Room turned silent as Harry walked into the dorms.

Tom was torn between following him and watching the disaster Harry had managed to leave behind on his very first night.


	4. Tom's Mark

**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Challenge: Indifference**

**_Chapter Four:_**** Tom's Mark**

Harry had never been a target of the older Slytherin attacks after that night. In fact many of them had chosen to stay well away from Harry to make sure that they did not anger him because there was no proof of the bookshelf falling being caused by Harry despite everyone knowing that it probably was.

That fact still did not mean that _Tom_ was out of their range just yet. Tom often found himself cursing the other boy in his mind for not making the other Slytherins at least _lighten_ their creative ways of humiliating him somehow. Tom had become their only target within the Common Room so he had begun to stay away from the Common Room for as long as he possibly could and only getting back just as curfew had begun.

He only understood Harry's reasoning when he had been annoyed enough to retaliate at his tormentors in a way not dissimilar to Harry's own. The only difference being that he had caused the sixth year to feel _pain_ unlike Harry who had simply knocked him out. It had been the same sixth year that had gone after Harry the night of the Sorting. He apparently never learned from past mistakes or perhaps underestimated everyone who he thought were beneath him.

He had made his _own_ statement of his power in the Common Room that night and he finally knew why Harry had watched him with indifference every time he had gotten taunted and teased.

If Harry _had_ helped him, he would have been labeled as weak and even when he finally retaliated the Slytherins would not really peg it down on _him_ but on Harry helping him.

Harry had been in the Common Room and watched him torture that sixth year with his body and face radiating indifference to the entire situation. Tom had noticed, however, that Harry's eyes had been on him and not on the body that had been writhing and screaming on the floor in agony.

His eyes had not been as indifferent as his face was.

That satisfied Tom as he had managed to break through the mask of indifference Harry had built around him over the last year.

That also meant that he had earned his place higher up in the Slytherin hierarchy and could now interact with the other Slytherins without being brushed off as he had been before.


	5. Places in the Hierarchy

**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Challenge: Drawn**

**_Chapter 5:_**** Places in the Hierarchy**

He had been drawn towards Harry time and time again throughout the years. He could tell that Harry felt the same way on occasion, when he actually managed to catch the other boy off guard for a moment which was not as often as Tom would have liked.

Tom had easily taken his place at the top of the hierarchy once his parseltongue abilities had been revealed. He open flaunted his power at times to make sure the other Slytherins knew there place. There was no reason to do that this year though. They were both seventh years now, there was no one above them in the student population who would challenge his position.

Harry's position in the Slytherin hierarchy was vague at best because despite him being one of the top students in Hogwarts along with Tom, no one had really seen him use magic out of class. It was a rare treat to see Harry use magic at all yet he had never lost a duel to anyone. Of course Harry and Tom had never dueled before so they never could tell who was more powerful of the two either, something that had remained a hot topic of discussion within the grapevine of Hogwarts.

Tom knew that if he wanted them to be anything more than the acquaintances that they currently were _he_ would have to be the one to make the first move. Somehow he knew that Harry would never be the one to instigate anything between them. He never had before even as Harry had the chance on many occasions.

He had been drawn in by the very first sight of a disheveled and bruised Harry running into an ally chased by a gang of burly boys. He had expected it to go away as it usually did, as his feelings always did. He certainly hadn't expected the pull to be stronger as time passed. He promised himself that he would ask Harry, to try for something he had never imagined he would ever be able to have.

It had never worked though, his determination always faded at the sight of the other boy. He had not been able to face the possible rejection if he did manage to ask. He had never been brave enough to try or even ask Harry if they could ever be friends or something more, anything more than the almost strangers they currently were.


	6. Last Sight

**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Challenge: Fascinated**

**_Chapter 6:_**** Last Sight**

The last time Tom had seen Harry was in Hogsmead station as they had been getting off the Hogwarts Express for the last time.

Tom had taken the top place in their year and Harry had taken a close second, both being to no one's surprise. Had anyone else managed to scoop the top two positions, they would have been accused of cheating, quite frankly so.

Tom watched Harry stroll out of the train.

The other boy still fascinated him after all this time, even after watching the other boy all through Hogwarts as he had, observing and trying to figure the boy out. Tom knew that he had not even figured out half of the mysteries surrounding Harry Evans.

The steam from the train that covered almost everything in sight gave Harry an even more mystical look that suited the fact that no one had ever gotten close enough to actually know the other boy. He had been friends with everyone at Hogwarts, even the Gryffindors who never really saw him as a Slytherin as they did with the rest of his house mates, but he had been close to no one. No one could tell what made him tick, or even something as simple as his favourite colour. There were guesses but no one knew if the guesses were true or not.

Perhaps it had been Harry's mysteries that had fascinated him, for they had never stopped coming until you finally gave up and simply accepted the fact that you would never know.

Tom acknowledged that that could very possibly be the last time they ever saw each other. Both seeing the other as shadowy figures among a flimsy grey curtain.

Their eyes met from across the platform in a manner that was similar to the first time they had seen each other. This time no one was chasing Harry though and Harry had no reason to defend himself with magic as Tom was sure he had done that time.

Harry gave Tom the same wry grin as last time and Tom realized with a faint sense of shock that Harry _had_ remembered that memory from so long ago and maybe, just maybe, Harry had been trying as hard as he had been during the last seven years; that Harry had been too afraid to try.

Harry slipped through the barrier just as he had slipped into the shadows and out of sight on the day they had first seen each other.


	7. Last Thoughts

**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Challenge: Carcass**

**_Chapter 7:_**** Last Thoughts**

Tom heard a few years later of Harry Evans' death from one of his colleagues.

Tom had been keeping track of Harry after they had left Hogwarts. Harry had gone on to become an auror. It had not been as surprising to most of the people that had been with him in Hogwarts as it probably should have been. Despite his distance he had liked helping people.

He had been the only Slytherin for as long as Hogwarts had stood that had never had a normal or safe amount of self-preservation when it came to helping other people when they were in trouble. Tom often thought that Harry should have been placed in Gryffindor with how he sometimes behaved, but there were also the other times when Tom was sure Harry would never fit in within the Lion's Den. Harry was a strange mix between a Gryffindor and a Slytherin, two feuding houses somehow melding perfectly into one person.

He had died saving a child from one of Grindelward's rogue followers who had managed not to get caught when Grindelward had been defeated by Dumbledore years ago. Most of them had been rounded up at that point but a few were still in hiding. He felt a deep loss over the death of the other man.

Tom hadn't gone to Harry's funeral which had been only a couple of days after his death. He did not want to see the carcass of the dead man that had single handedly held his attention for years. That was not Harry any more. The man that had fascinated him was gone. He had left when his spirit had.

He felt a sorrow for what could have been but never had and for never trying, for giving up before their chance had truly been gone. He knew he could have tried again after Hogwarts but somehow he knew that the time for them was over and this only made it much clearer.

He celebrated for the life that Harry had lived for as long as he had known him and the hero's death he had died. He had truly expected nothing less and could believe that Harry would have been pleased to die saving someone rather than dying uselessly on a bed, unable to move and having other people care for him.

He had lived and died fighting.

He hoped that Harry was enjoying the afterlife and was causing as much trouble as he had while he lived.


End file.
